Visiting St. Simons Island, Georgia

Coastal Georgia has my heart. It’s where I was raised, where I hope to eventually get back to one day. So when figuring out where to travel to for our anniversary this year, I figured why not go back there for a nice weekend. Stay somewhere fancy, try some new restaurants, and just relax at the beach. We decided to go a little south of Savannah, where I grew up, to St. Simons Island, part of Georgia’s Golden Isles.

One thing that makes St. Simons an amazing beach destination is that it’s not as built up as other beach towns. Instead of high-rises and chain restaurants you’ll find moss-draped trees, charming shops and restaurants, historical landmarks, and of course there is a gorgeous beach.

Where to Stay:

Our pick is the King and Prince Resort. This is a St. Simons staple, as there really aren’t many other resort options. It’s a really fabulous place to stay. Great rooms, awesome service, right on the beach, amazing beachside pools, and first class golf and tennis. There’s also a lot of history to the resort. The main hotel building opened in 1941 and the resort is a member of the Historic Hotels of America. King and Prince is definitely a family friendly place to stay, and even features a fun kiddie pool and you’re sure to see lots of families with little ones around. My only advice? Don’t do the partial oceanview room. We would have rather just had a non-oceanview room. We paid extra for partial oceanview just to have a room with no balcony, and from which you could only “view” the ocean if you were standing in the corner of the room by the TV. We felt a little ripped off by this but enjoyed our stay nonetheless.

If you choose not to stay at King and Prince, there are houses and condos that can be rented across the island, and a few other small hotels.

Where to Eat:

We sampled a good number of restaurants across the island, but our favorite hands down was ECHO at King and Prince, the only oceanside restaurant on the island. We ate one lunch, one breakfast, and one dinner at ECHO and nothing we ate was disappointing, from the tasty cocktails to the desserts. I’ll give a quick overview: for breakfast I had eggs lowcountry, with shrimp, andouille sausage, corn, potato, and a fried egg. For lunch I sampled the shrimp pasta which featured a lobster cream sauce. I had the cookies and cream for dessert – I didn’t even know a giant crispy on the outside and soft on the inside chocolate chip cookie could be that delicious. For dinner I had savory mussels in a broth with bread for dipping, and sea scallops that were seared to perfection over a sauce made of peas which was mind blowing. Yes if you are a food lover, even just a food liker, you don’t want to miss out on a delicious meal at ECHO.

If you decide you don’t want to leave St. Simons without trying a meal somewhere other than ECHO I recommend trying out the Crab Trap, Barbara Jean’s, Halyards and Tramici, if you’re in the mood for Italian.

What to Do:

Well the beach, duh. But St. Simons has tons to do if you don’t just want to lay out all day. Here are somer other ideas:

-St. Simons Lighthouse Museum
-City Tours (they even have ghost tours)
-Kayaking & Canoeing
-Georgia Sea Turtle Center
-Neptune Park (waterfront park with a pool, splash pad, and mini golf)
-Fort Frederica
-Shrimpin’ Excursion (learn more here)
-Driftwood Beach (Jekyll Island)

Have you been to St. Simons Island – would love to hear about your experience below!

*We were provided with complimentary meals at ECHO in exchange for this review.